‘I’m not stubborn.’
Dare took her elbow and laughed softly as she pulled it out of his grasp. ‘As a mule.’
‘I don’t think you would tell him,’ she challenged. ‘I don’t think you’d dare.’
‘Try me.’ His expression darkened. ‘It might make him realise what a disloyal little gold-digger you are.’
‘You were the one who kissed me,’ she said, outraged colour winging into her cheeks.
‘You kissed me back,’ he pointed out, wanting to do nothing more than curl his hand around the nape of her neck and remind them both how good it had been. When she glared at him without responding he raised an eyebrow. ‘You get points for not trying to deny it.’
‘Why bother?’ she tossed at him. ‘Men like you do what you want anyway. You make your own rules.’
Something in her tone made his gaze sharpen. Rather than look like a woman on the make, she looked suddenly wistful and lost and innocently beautiful, like a woman he wanted to take to his bed and never let go.
And stupid thoughts like that were what had driven his father to follow one rainbow after another.
Scowling, he made an elaborate gesture in the direction of the village.
‘Shall we?’ he said tersely.
She looked as if she was about to tell him to go jump on his head but then she stuck her nose in the air and stalked off ahead of him.
Dare smiled grimly and set off after her.
They hadn’t gone very far when Dare put his hand out in front of her body to stop her.
Startled, Carly threw him an annoyed look until he put his finger to his lips to keep her quiet and pointed into the bracken. A deer and two fawns were grazing on a patch of grass, their ears twitching. Dare could feel the heat of the sun on his shoulders, the soft breeze on his face, and was pleased to sense that Carly was as aware of the delicacy of the moment as he was. A bird called overhead and the deer all raised their heads.
He heard Carly’s sharp intake of breath as the doe made eye contact. A moment later her nose twitched and she alerted her fawns before dancing off into the trees.
Dare smiled. He loved the outdoors and since starting his business ten years ago he hadn’t had much time to commune with nature as he had done as a boy.
‘Oh, my, that was beautiful,’ Carly murmured.
‘It reminds me of home.’
‘Really?’ She gazed up at him, wonder turning her gaze soft. ‘How so?’
Dare swallowed. ‘I grew up in a small town at the foot of the Smokies. Had plans to become a forest ranger at one point.’
Her eyes grew wide. ‘What made you switch from forest ranger to finance whiz?’
‘Whiz, huh?’
‘Some media person’s view, not mine.’
Dare shrugged. ‘I was good with numbers. My math teacher saw it. He encouraged me, and I won a scholarship to Harvard.’
She nodded slowly. ‘That’s pretty impressive.’
‘Yeah, I like what I do. I like investing in businesses and seeing what I can do with them. Seeing them come off. But living in cities doesn’t leave much time to go round up deer.’
And what was he doing sharing his private thoughts with this woman? If he wasn’t careful he’d tell her he sometimes felt lonely in those cities, living in large, empty apartments and never feeling settled.
‘No deer in Liverpool.’ She laughed. ‘Our local wildlife consists of teens hanging out at train stations for all the wrong reasons.’
Disgruntled by how much he was enjoying her company, Dare scowled.
‘Do you love him?’
She blinked up at him. ‘Sorry?’
‘The old man,’ he rasped. ‘Do you love him?’
A cold light entered her lovely eyes. ‘Are we back to that?’ She shook her head as if he had disappointed her in some way and his gut clenched. ‘But he isn’t “the old man”, he’s your grandfather.’
‘And you’re evading the question.’
‘Because I don’t want to ruin my walk any more than it already is.’
She marched away from him. ‘Answer the question, Carly.’ His long-legged stride easily matched hers.
‘Or what?’ She glared up at him. ‘You’ll make me?’